At 2-2 and missing their starting quarterback for at least the next two games, the Pittsburgh Steelers chances of ending the first half of the season with a .500 record certainly doesn’t look good. As far as playoff chances go at this point, while early, they are seemly low, as you would expect
According to ESPN’s FPI Week 5 power rankings, the Steelers have just a 33 percent chance of returning to the AFC playoffs this year, even though they’re listed as the 10th-best team in the league.
The index currently has the Steelers at 8.6 projected wins through 5 weeks of play. Additionally, their chances of winning the AFC North division are just 13.5 percent. The Cincinnati Bengals, who started the season 4-0, currently have a 78.2 percent chance of winning the division this year.
As far as winning Super Bowl 50 goes, the New England Patriots are on top of ESPN’s index with a 21.5 percent chance. The Steelers, on the other hand, currently have just a 1.6 percent chance.
The Steelers will travel out west in Week 5 to play the San Diego Chargers on Monday night and as you would expect, they certainly aren’t favored to win the game. If they do come away victorious, however, ESPN’s FPI index says that at that point they will approximately have a 46 percent chance to make playoffs. If they lose to the Chargers, their playoff chances drop down to 23 percent.
